April 4 - Elmer Bernstein (The Musical Birthday Series, 8th Annual Cycle)

Previous posts for April 4th may be found here: Elmer Bernstein (2019), Stephen Storace (2020), Sheku Kanneh-Mason (2021), Pierre Monteux; Eugène Bozza (2022), Niccolò Antonio Zingarelli (2023), Arthur Murray (2024), and Hans Richter (2025)

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Elmer Bernstein (4 April 1922 – 8 August 2004) was a hugely prolific and successful film composer and conductor.  His credits include over 150 films (The Tenth Commandments, To Kill a Mockingbird, Ghostbusters, Animal House), many TV shows, and Broadway musicals.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On and On

In total, Bernstein wrote 2½ hours of music for The Ten Commandments, which proved a massive hit and cemented his status as a top score composer. – Wikipedia

A film by Cecil B. DeMille

Has quite a lot of time to fill,

And Elmer Bernstein showed his powers

By backgrounding those epic hours.

 

 

 

 

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April 3 - Joseph Kerman (The Musical Birthday Series, 8th Annual Cycle)

Previous posts for April 3rd may be found here: Reginald De Koven (2019),  Alessandro Stradella (2020), Wayne Newton (2021), Watkins Shaw (2022), Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco (2023), Richard Proulx (2024), and Zez Confrey (2025)

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Joseph Kerman (3 April 1924 – 17 March 2014) was an important American musicologist and music critic.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lacuna

You can search on your own to determine

If there's ever been limericks on Kerman,

But if, or if not,

I will give it a shot,

And that is a promise I'm firm in.

 

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Byrd on the Hand

Perhaps you may never have heard

Of this erudite expert on Byrd,

Whose learned conjectures

Were presented in lectures

When Renaissance scholars conferred.

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Vissi d'arte

Among the operas Kerman discussed in the book was Puccini's Tosca which he controversially described as a "shabby little shocker". --Wikipedia

"It's shabby, a shocker, and little,"

Said Kerman, while spitting his spittle,

But fans of the show

Who continued to go,

Are affected by him not a tittle. 

 

 

 

 

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April 2 - Richard Taruskin (The Musical Birthday Series, 8th Annual Cycle)

Previous postings for April 2nd may be found here: EmmyLou Harris (2019),  Marvin Gaye (2020), Franz Asplmayr (2021), Franz Lachner (2022), Giacomo Gotifredo Ferrari (2023), Franz Lachner (2024), and Richard Taruskin (2025)

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Richard Taruskin (2 April 1945 – 1 July 2022) was an American musicologist and music critic who was among the leading and most prominent music historians of his generation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Take That!

Mr. Taruskin courted controversy in nearly everything he wrote. He had a no-holds-barred approach to intellectual combat. – excerpts adapted from William Robin, "Richard Taruskin, Vigorously Polemical Musicologist, Dies at 77," www.nytimes.com

When Richard Taruskin engaged

In polemical battle, he waged

War where his wits

Tore opponents to bits,

Leaving scholarly carnage on stage.

 

 

 

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April 1 - Sergei Rachmaninoff (The Musical Birthday Series, 8th Annual Cycle)

Previous posts for April 1st may be found here: Sergei Rachmaninoff (2019), F. Melius Christiansen (2020), Alberta Hunter (2021), Debbie Reynolds; Sergei Rachmaninoff (2022), Susan Boyle (2023) , Rachmaninoff (2024), and Sergei Rachmaninoff (2025)

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Sergei Rachmaninoff (1 April [O.S. 20 March] 1873 – 28 March 1943) was, of course, one of the greatest pianists of his time, and remains one of the most beloved of all composers.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Musical Heritage Society

A composer whose lineage is Russian

Is an heir to a style to be plush in,

And laughing or grieving,

This heart-on-your-sleeving

Is not a thing up for discussion.

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Hand Me Downers

Along with his musical gifts, Rachmaninoff possessed physical gifts that placed him in good stead as a pianist, including large hands with a gigantic finger stretch. – Wikipedia

The spread of Rachmaninoff's hand

Was quite inexplicably grand,

And his passage work numbs

The ten fingers and thumbs

Of mortals less lavishly planned.

 

 

 

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March 31 - Johann Sebastian Bach; Joseph Haydn (The Musical Birthday Series, 8th Annual Cycle)

Previous posts for March 31st may be found here: Joseph Haydn (2019) and (2020), Herb Alpert (2022), Joseph Haydn; Johann Sebastian Bach (2022), Joseph Haydn (2023), Shirley Jones; Johann Sebastian Bach (2024), and Sergei Diaghilev; Johann Sebastian Bach; Joseph Haydn (2025)

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Johann Sebastian Bach (31 March [O. S. 21 March] 1685 – 28 July 1750) was a German composer and organist. 

Joseph Haydn (31 March 1732 – 31 May 1809) was one of the great composers of the late 18th century.   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Might Have Beens

For eighteen years they shared this earth,

And also shared their date of birth;

But never met for cake and candles,

Or shared their take on local scandals,

Or took a break with scores of Handel's;

They never sat and played duets,

Or turned their chat to minuets,

And then from that to cigarettes;

Envoi

Sometimes lives that overlap

Are kept divided by the map.

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March 30 - John Stafford Smith (The Musical Birthday Series, 8th Annual Cycle)

Previous posts for March 30th may be found here: John Stafford Smith (2019), Celine Dion (2020), Eric Clapton (2021). Johann Wilhelm Wilms (2022), Antonio de Cabezón (2023), John Stafford Smith (2024), and Tommaso Traetta (2025)

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John Stafford Smith (30 March 1750 – 21 September 1836) was a pioneer in the collection and study of musical manuscripts, a friend of Haydn and Mozart, and a minor composer.   

 

 

 

 

 

In re: JSS

Smith is best known for writing the music for "The Anacreontic Song", which became the tune for the American patriotic song "The Star-Spangled Banner", and in 1931 was adopted as the national anthem of the United States. – adapted from Wikipedia

I'm enclosing a limerick herewith

With a thought about John Stafford Smith:

It was hardly foreseeable

That his song, though agreeable,

Would embody the American myth.

 

 

 

 

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